MOSES: FROM DOUBT TO DELIEVERANCE
NOT BY ACCIDENT
Sunday September 15, 2002
Scripture Reference: Exodus 2:1-10
Intro.
A. Can I introduce you to a thought that I think most of us never consider and may even feel is a little irreverent at first glance? I am going to anyway so just say yes. Have you ever considered that the God we reverence the creator of the universe, the God who alone is absolutely holy, the God who knows all things from beginning to end. Have you ever considered the fact that this same God whom we are taught to fear, in the proper sense of the word. That this God is also realistic about us? Let me give you a few scriptures to show you what I mean by that. Look at Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God clearly tells us that His ways are not like ours and that His thoughts are much different than ours. Now look at Psalm 103:14 “for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” Now I do not have time to fully delve into this subject but let me say that these words do not mean that we have no hope of ever understanding God and what He desires or wants for our lives. What these words mean is that God is far greater than where our own human ways can lead us and greater than our deepest thoughts can take us.
1. What I find very encouraging about these words is that in them I understand that God is realistic about me. He knows that I am frail. He knows that I cannot fully understand all the things He is trying to do in my life. I like the way Church Swindoll puts this, he says that God understand that we were created out of a few pounds of garden soil.
2. The reason I bring this subject up is because I think that our expectations both for ourselves and for others are unrealistic. We either tend to expect too much or too little from others or ourselves. * And if you would like my opinion (of course whether you would like it or not is irrelevant because I am going to give it to you). We expect too much of others and to little of ourselves. We think that others, like the preacher ought to have the faith and courage of Moses but certainly not ourselves.
B. I want to say to you again that I think one of the most exciting and encouraging things that are going to come out of this series is that if we will listen carefully we will learn that God can use ANYONE who is willing to put themselves in His hands.
1. Moses’ life can be divided into three parts consisting of forty years each. The first forty years were the years of his upbringing. The second forty were the years of his waiting and learning in the desert of Midian. The final forty were the years that God used him to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt and to the boarder of Canaan. The great preacher Dwight L. Moody put together a great little synopsis of Moses’ life. It goes like this; “Moses spend his first forty years thinking he was somebody. He spend his second forty years learning he was a nobody. He spent his third forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”
1. You and I will not in all likelihood live to be 120 year old but of this I can assure you. Each of us will experience one or all of these stages. Whether or not we make it through to that final stage of realizing that God can use us will all depend on whether or not we chose to trust and obey the Lord.
Trans. Last week we set the context for the time in which Moses was born. Today we are going to focus our attention on his birth and the circumstances surrounding it. What I hope we will learn by the time we are done today is that our lives do not have to consist of a series of random acts or events that have no rhyme nor reason for our lives. Our lives are not accidental. Let’s begin by looking at what I think can best be described as:
I. AN UNENVIABLE BIRTH.
I think that from what we learned last week we could safely say that these were desperate times.
A. These Were Desperate Times.
1. Even though times were hard and the oppression of the Hebrew children was great, life still moved on. I wish I could stay here for a few minutes and elaborate on this point let me at least say this. We cannot let trouble or hard times stop us, either individually or corporately as a church. This life will always have its difficulties but we can’t let these things stop us from living our God’s plan for our lives.
2. Look with me at 1:12 (read) and then again at 2:1 (read). What both of
these verses show us is that even though life was very hard for these people; they did not quit living. In fact we know that Moses’ parent’s had two other children, a sister and a brother. Aaron of course must have been born before this latest edict from Pharaoh.
3. Now let’s look at the circumstances that surrounded the birth of Moses. Look with me at V.2 (read). It was not just a mother’s love that caused Jochebed to protect her baby. I sincerely doubt that there were any other mothers at that time who when they gave birth to sons notified the authorities so that their sons could be killed. The scripture tells us that “She saw him…” Those words remind me of the phrase, “He saw right through me.” [] That reminds me a time when I was in Junior High when I had been smoking with a friend and my mom smelt cigarette smoke on my breath and asked me if I had been smoking. I told her I hadn’t but I could tell that she saw right through me. She knew what was true deep down in side of me. Jochebed did not simply see a beautiful baby. [] After all who has seen an ugly baby, or at least would admit to such a thing? I am still amazed at how parents, especially mother’s can look at their newborn child and say; he/she looks just like ____. How in the world can you tell that when they often time have little or no hair and their skin is like a wrinkled prune? ** I’ll tell you how, they see right through all that superficial stuff and see the inner beauty of that child. I am convinced that somehow Jochebed had been given special insight by God into the life of this little baby she was holding in her arms. No, she had no details but somehow she knew there was destiny wrapped in these blankets and she had to do all she could to protect that life.
3. In V. 2 we read that Jochebed hide him for three months. We can gain a little better understanding of these words when we look at Hebrews 11:23, “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” What this tells us is that Moses’ life had been protected by faith. Now this is where those of us who know this story tend to miss so much.
a) We have in our congregation now four new babies ranging from six months to two months. Let me ask you, how easy do you think it would be for any of these parents to conceal these children for three months? Now in our day we have nice homes that can shield a good deal of the noise babies make, but what if you lived in Moses’ time? What if your house was a tent in the midst of a thousand other tents? And what if there were Egyptian soldiers who walked back and forth through out your village every day listening for the sounds of babies crying. How simple of a task do you think it would be to conceal those sounds? How could you do this? I will tell you how, by faith. By trusting God to intervene and do what it was utterly impossible for you to do.
b) There is another reason that this was such a great act of faith. Look at 1:22 (read). This was not small act of defiance. Pharaoh was quite literally the leader of the world at this time. You don’t defy Pharaoh and expect that if you get caught that you will later plead your case before some court. If you are caught defying Pharaoh you are killed, discussion over. Now when I began this message I said that I believe our Heavenly Father is realistic. He knows as Swindoll says that we are just a few pounds of garden soil. So I would remind you today that Moses’ parents were not superparents. We cannot allow ourselves to believe that somehow God had endowed them with some kind of super spirituality that enabled them to do what you and I could never do. That would be a distortion of both the truth and reality. They were human just like you and I. I don’t think we could possibly deny that they were very afraid to do what they were doing. But as someone once said, “Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.” The opposite is also true, “Feed your fears and your faith will starve to death.” The only difference between Moses’ parent and many of us today is that they chose to act on faith and not on fear.
c) Can I ask you, what God is calling you to do that you are afraid to do?
Is he asking you to begin a small group bible study in your home? Are you afraid you won’t know the answered to the questions that might be asked? Are you afraid that you might fail that no one would come? You have a decision to make. Either you will act on your faith or you will act on your fears. Is God asking you to share your faith with a co-worker, a neighbor, a fellow student at school? Are you afraid you willing to have all the answered to their questions? Are you afraid they will reject your message to them? You have a decision to make. Are you feeling God calling you to step out in faith and trust him in the giving of your tithe and offering? Are you afraid that if you do you might not be able to pay your other bills? Are you afraid that you might not be consistent and that will only make you feel more like a failure and that you have disappointed God? You have one of two choices. Either you will feed your faith or you will feed your fears. But be sure of this, your decision will also determine your outcome. You will never see God use you in miraculous ways while you cower in the corner.
Trans. Now I said that these were desperate times into which Moses was born and as I think we all know, desperate times call for desperate measures.
B. Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures.
1. Can I ask you what your mental picture has been of what Jochebed did when she put Moses into the river? I think that many of us envisioned her wading out into the river and placing the basket in the water then giving it a firm but gentle push into he rivers current. After all Pharaoh was looking to kill this baby, she would certainly want to make sure the Moses floated as far away as possible. What this story teaches us is that took a leap of faith, but not a leap into the dark. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that true faith has substance and is backed by evidence. True faith says, “There is something God is calling me to do that is bigger than myself. I will do what I can then I will leave the impossible to God.”
a) This is what Jochebed did. Look with me again at V.3 (read). The scripture tells us that she “put” the basket among the reeds. She knew that God had something special for her son to do put she had no idea what it was, but she took definite steps to allow God’s plan to be unfolded. She put her son where the daughter of Pharaoh would find him, knowing that action in itself might end his life.
2. We do not have time to explore all that there is in this story but I want to take you to V.5-9 (read). Moses was found, as Jochebed believed he would be. Notice what it says in V.6 “she felt sorry for him”. Wait a minute, she knew the story here. Her father had issued an edict. All newborn baby boys were to be killed. Did you notice that she never even hesitated in her action? She didn’t say, “Take this child away and have him killed.” Didn’t she realize that her defiance of Pharaohs orders would be just as severe for her as they would be for Jochebed? Faith is doing what I can and then leaving the impossible up to God.
a) Jochebed could not have taken her son to Pharaohs daughter and pleaded for his life, that would have surely ended in disaster. She did what she could but she left the impossible to God. Isn’t this the very thing you and I so often fail to do? We not only do what we can but then we try to do God’s part as well. We somehow feel that God needs a little boost from us to get this job done. How foolish on our part this is.
b) Now look at V.8-9 (read). Can you imagine the emotion of this event? What must Jochebed have felt as Miriam ushers her into the presence of Pharaoh’s daughter to receive back her son? It must have been something like these parents who have had their children kidnapped then recovered. Or maybe it was like the Father who received back the prodigal son. I wonder if when Pharaoh’s daughter looked into the face of Jochebed that she couldn’t tell that this was not just the first Hebrew woman Miriam could find but that this was in fact Moses’ mother?
c) Now there is something truly amazing that happens in V.9 (read). Did you see it? Not only did she not have this child killed as she could so easily have done. Not only does she turn him back over to his mother to nurse and care for him, but also her is the truly awesome thing. She is PAID to do it!!! Wow! Talk about a God thing, this is it!!! No one could have caused these things to happen. This is what happens when we do what we know we can and then leave the results in the hands of a gracious, loving, and awesome God!
d) I can’t help but ask the question, are you trusting God by doing what he
has asked you to do then leaving the results in His hands? Do you believe that as God’s word says in Ephesians 3:20 that he is able too exceedingly abundantly above all you can ask or imagine?
Trans. Well let me close by giving you this weeks Life Lessons.
LIFE LESSONS:
1. Your life is not an accident. Psalms 139 declares that to you along with
Ephesians 2:10. Our lives might not be the stuff a “Made for TV” movie are made of but that in no way lessens who we are and the plan God has for our lives. Do you really believe that you are right where you are today by accident? I sure don’t. You are here today because God had a word for your life. He wanted to affirm in you that you are special, you are significant. There is something God has for you to do and only you can do it!
2. Faith is not an exercise in futility. Faith is doing the best you can with the gifts, talents, and resources and then leaving the impossible up to God. I know that some of you are facing very difficult situations in your life right now. I think you would say that some of the things that seem to need to happen for you are improbable if not impossible. Are you willing to do the best that you can to move towards that thing that needs to be done and then when you reach the end of yourself, put the rest in God’s hands? Yes, we may not be Moses but what we face is still a Moses size job and it requires a Moses kind of faith. Are you willing to exercise that faith?
